If there is a group of people who can be said to have a truly blessed life,
then she was one of those people.

Born in an affluent and influential family, with a loving mother, a gentle
father, a caring brother, and close-knit relatives, she never felt cold or
hunger or abuse ever since she graced the Earth. The Fates and Goddess of Luck also
smiled at her, as she was bestowed a beauty that could make the flowers shied
and a voice that could make the songbirds ashamed. She was loved by her family,
cherished by her friend, treasured by people around her. She lacked nothing and
her future was as bright as the sun.

It was all changed when she was 14. On a certain rare misty day, the bus
she rode with her school’s choir team was involved in giant vehicle pile-up crash
at the now infamous Nijibashi Bridge. Her teammates escape with light degree of
injuries but she was, for the first time in her life, unlucky.

When she awoken 3 weeks later, under the watchful care of her family, she
found with horror, that her body was paralyzed from her waist down and she
couldn’t feel her leg anymore. Her family was alarmed by this and summoned the
best doctors from the whole country. But the verdict from the doctors only
confound their greatest fear: the complete severance of her spinal cord due to severe
thoracolumbar fracture made the nerve to her waist and leg had stopped
functioning. Even with all the advancement of neurology and neuroscience of
modern world, there was nothing that doctors could do about this. Even neural
stem cell regeneration wouldn’t be able to restore her spinal cord function to
its original state. However, she was someone who was raised as a Pollyanna and
her family was very supportive in her rehabilitation. It didn’t mean that she
doubted the doctor’s conclusion, but she just couldn’t believe it. It can be
said at that time, she was underestimating how hard her condition will be for
her.

Months passed and even with intense physiotherapy and numerous sessions of
painful spinal cord stem cell therapy, her condition hardly improved. She couldn’t
walk or move on her own, even a simple act of sitting on the bed was a daunting
task. Her waist and legs felt weird for her as she couldn’t sense anything from
them. Even if she stab it and made it bleed, no sense of the pain of whatsoever
came from it. It was as if, it was a dead meat hanging on her body.
Furthermore, she lost any control on her bladder and anus, the urine and the
feces came out on their own, so she must wear a diaper. She thought that she
was just like a baby as her survival depended on the people around her. Even
so, a smile always plastered over her face, her optimism masked the huge uncertainties,
doubt, and fear inside of her heart.

Even after so much time had passed, her family still didn’t give up on the
possibility that she could be healed, caringly looking after her need, taking
her out for a stroll in a wheelchair, helped her changing the diapers, bathing,
dressing, and accompanying her as much as they can. She was grateful for this, but
deep down in her heart, she questioned herself: Am I not a burden for them? Her
father cut down his time in the company, her mother stopped singing, her
brother stopped attending cram school. Everyone sacrifice their time for her,
yet what she can do for them? Nothing. She could only make a fake smile so they
wouldn’t be more worried about her. In the corner of her heart, there always a shadow
fear of being abandoned due to her disability if she burden them too much.
After all, what’s the point of a broken tool? The sense of helplessness slowly encroached
over her heart.

Even when her friends welcomed her back to school and her school made
various accommodations for her, she felt alienated. She could hardly
participate in any of her friends after school activity. After all, it’s hard
to take someone in the wheelchair for hanging out and she still needs to attend
her physiotherapy, which also cause her to quit the choir club. Even if her
friend didn’t say it out loud, she always suspects that her friends secretly
are tired of taking care of her. This burdened down her psyche. She smiled and
showed a cheery disposition to everyone, but this only an act, a desperate plea
for someone to not abandoning her.

This continued for a year, then another... She couldn’t see the ending.

She had given up to be healed, attending physiotherapy session in her home just
to make her family happy. Her family also seems to have accepted her condition
and long resumed their old lifestyle. She understood that it wasn’t because
they don’t care about her anymore, but because in any case, life must go on.
She mustn’t burden them more than this, so she didn’t make any fuss. However,
the shadow in the corner of her heart kept bigger. She doubted that anyone
would care for her if not because of her family wealth and position, that no
one would truly love her. After all, who will want a girl who can’t even change
her diaper by herself? The worst thing about her condition is that people saw
her disability before they saw her as a person. The fear of the future, the
fear of being abandoned, the fear of being not loved began to make her smile
façade crumble.

Her only solace was her solo recital in the park and the VR-headset that
was provided by her personal physiotherapist. Since except for going to school,
hospital and family vacation, she hardly could go outside on her own, the
physiotherapist thought that she might be bored cooped in the mansion all day.
So the physiotherapist thought she could have a recreation using the VR-headset
that enables her to move in a simulated reality projected by the realistic
stereoscopic screen inside the headset. After all, mens sana in corpore sano.

At first, it was only a simple edutainment programs that recorded real or
simulated first person moving through historical places, famous landmarks,
fantastic scenes, and fictional planets. Then simple exploration game where she
could manipulate the character movement through a simple controller. Eventually,
she ended up in virtual novels, where various scenes happened in front of her
and she could make some choice for her character about how the story progress,
especially of otome genre, where she became the heroine.

The headset became a strange mirror where she could escape to another
world. A world, where she can do more than what “the her” in the real world can
do. A pillar of support that slowed down her crumbling heart. Her Wonderland.
Her escape.

She might be still smiling in the school and to her family, but deep down
she had already given up finding happiness in the real world.

When she was about graduated from middle school, one of the newly recruited
maids in her mansion introduced her to Rage Against Heaven Online, a
famous FPVMMORPG with millions active players from the entire world. Since she
hardly ever played an MMO game before, she was fascinated by the idea of
playing with other people. The gameplay is also relatively easy, so even
someone newbie in RPG like her could play. Guided by her maid, she made a game
registration, paid the service fee, and adjusted the settings, and finally, she
entered the character creation window.

When prompted to give a name to her character, she chose the name:
Melbiena. A sad made-up portmanteau word from ‘Male’ and ‘Bene’.
She made a light chuckle when she confirmed the name.

She left her race, subrace and appearance selection to RNG Goddess and ended
up as a Female Alfar of Alpenheim Clan, with metallic blue hair, green jade-like
eyes and flawless marble white skin. The face looks like a certain famous European
actress. So not a bad choice she thought.

Then a window showing list of initial jobs. Since she was new to RPG, the
maid said she just need to chose the job that suit her preference.

【Summoner – Magic Class – Mixed Type】

【Job Description : Since time immemorial, Spirits lived on the
planes which was different yet the same with the mortals, influencing the
natural world where they reside. They are not deities with unlimited power,
however, and many Spirits also served as Deities’ messenger and subordinates.

With the advent of the False Gods that corrupted many worlds, the Spirits, who was also imperiled by the Evil power, decided that they will lend help to
the Goddess’ Offsprings. Those who obtained their favor and could summon the
Spirits' temporary manifestation in the material plane was known as “Summoners”.

Advantage: Summoners fight by summoning Spirits, which are strong and have various
elements and method of attack. Summoners are versatile, able to change their
method of battle in short notice. Close connection to Spirits Realm increase
Soul and Mana.

Disadvantage: Summoning Spirits weaken the physical body of Summoners,
Summoned Spirits consumed large amount of Mana. Non-Contract Summoned Spirits
only can be summoned for limited amount per day. Summoner must contact the
Spirits before able to summon them.

Stats Growth Correction: 《Body》⇩⇩, 《Soul》⇧⇧

Requirement: Mastered a Tier 1 Magic Class Job | Player with Alfar-Alpenheim
Racial Trait could take this job as starting class.】

So summoner is someone who made others battle for her? Isn’t that just like
her current condition? Depending on other people. She decided that her job will be this.

After finishing the tutorials and thrown into the large world of 『All Creation』, her maid asked her to join the maid’s guild.

Guild in the game is a group of players that joined into a single
organization for the sake of socializing, raiding together, or just for role
playing. Usually, the member of the guild will have some kind of similarity. In
RAHO there were Guilds based on the PC’s races, subraces, or jobs; Guilds based
on player nationality, region or other real world links; and Guild that had
random member without hardly any similarity other than desire to do join the
guild, basically a Hobby Guild.

Her maid’s guild: Neuschwanensee was a Hobby Guild. A guild which member
came from all over the world and had almost no similar point in race nor jobs,
and quite a lenient Guild structure. Since the Guild hardly ever participate in
Guild War, it was a bottom ranked guild, however, it didn’t matter as it was just
Hobby Guild that was only established because the guild Leader, Guild Master (that
is really his in-game name) wanted to create a perfect replica of a typical
Medieval German city (Bavarian to be exact). Because of this, Neuschwanensee attracted
various irregular players who didn’t have any interest in “beating the game” or
“becoming the strongest” and just casually playing to enjoy the game.

It was after she joined the guild that she informed by the others that the
job 【Summoner】 was considered by most players as Trash-tier Job because of what they
deemed as shitty mechanic and because Summoners are as weak as slime. In other
words, she had unknowingly disabled herself. In battle, she found herself hardly
useful, her summons were weak and time limited, she couldn’t do physical attack
and her magic attack was mostly harmless. She hated this.

When she realized about this, she asked the other guild members about
whether she should reset her character and what job should she take. However,
then the Vice-Guild Leader joined the chat. His first words:

“That is where you are wrong.
Summoner is not a job for a solo player. It’s a job for a team player. It can
be considered as a disability, but all that means is that you only have to take
a slightly different path than the others. If you have questions about Summoners,
feel free to ask me.”

This was her first meeting with Vice-Guild Leader, Yusis, a rare unorthodox
player who took all three production classes and even made one of the
production class as his main class. Although such setup was relatively more
common in the early phase of the game, at this point of the game, it was
considered as a disadvantageous, because he would weaker than a full melee or
magic player. But in his own words:

“A blacksmith isn’t supposed to be in a fight
anyway.”

And so, he didn’t really care whether he was weak or strong in a fight. It
was just a matter of perception, as long as he can do just one thing well, he
would be needed and is an important person for others. He is a Smith/Alchemist/Artificier,
so what important was whether he could smith, concoct potion, and enchant.

Summoner isn’t weak, he said. People just don’t know how to effectively
live as one. He knew some strong Summoners, so Yusis taught her what she should
do based on his summoners friend experience.

Rather than trying to cover her weak Body stat, she should take jobs that
would increase her Soul and Charisma stats instead, rather than worrying about
performing a physical attack or attack magic by herself, she should focus on
increasing her summon effectiveness. After all, a summoner shouldn’t be
fighting directly after all. Rather than focusing on what her job isn’t
designed for, she should focus on what her Job does best.

She should take a 『Scholar』 job, to take advantage of it non-instantaneous magic casting time benefit reduction.
Alfenheim-racial exclusive job, 『Oracle』, has high synergistic skill with 『Summoner』 job, so she should take it too as it would increase her summon power. As
she dislikes beast or monster-type summon, Yusis advised her to contract the
Season Fairies for her Low-Tier summon. When alone Season Fairies were weak but
summoned together, their battle effectiveness increased. Since each fairy
represents one element and is a ‘switch-able summon’, she could quickly switch
one fairy for another with minimum mana penalty and accordingly took advantage
of enemy’s element weakness. Even though Yusis was a higher ranked players than
her, if he had the time, he would take her to a hunt and taught her how to
fight as a Summoner. Yusis also gave her free equipment and enchant them for
free when he took her for a hunt.

When she asked him why, he said that he was only want to farm monster
drops, since if he kills weaker monster he would hardly get any item drop,
partying with her was a suitable alternative. He not exclusively done this for
her, as he had partied with many newbies before. So it was just for his own
convenience. For her, this was alright. She was happy that she was needed and
could be useful for others. Also, she believed that even if he said those
words, he was actually a really good and kind person in heart. After all, Yusis
listened to her silly stories and told her various funny and intriguing in
return. Even if he didn’t play, as soon as she call him with in-game message, he
would immediately log-on if he read the notification. Also, the “item drop”
part was mostly a lie, as he rarely took anything from her. It was as if, Yusis
is deliberately spoiling her.

And not only Yusis, but the other people in the guild. Guild Master who oftentimes
distribute cash items for free to the newbies, MayDoeSueKey who are famous for
her long detailed NPC background rant and her fiction that was posted in the
game forum, Unapietra who always partying with newbies and help them in their
quests, Stella who always act cutesy and love showy magics, Iusticia the cool,
calm, solo player who famous for soloing dragons and instance bosses but
oftentimes teach the newbies how to do boss battles, and many others. As her
strength grew and she gets used in Summoner game style, she was ‘needed’ by
others. She wasn’t just someone who ‘depend’ on others anymore, but had become someone
that the others could ‘depend’ too.

She also enjoyed talking with other members about many things. The others
came from many countries and many backgrounds, so they have many interesting
stories to share. After hearing their stories, she realized it was wrong for
her to just limited herself to her own world. This was just a lame excuse, but
there were many who weren’t as fortunate for her, so she shouldn’t think that
she was the most unfortunate person in the whole world.

It was just like Yusis said, she wasn’t a solo player, but a team player,
she shouldn’t trying to be able to do everything and anything by herself. It
was just a matter of perception, as long as she can do just one thing well, she
would be needed and is important for others. Her condition might be considered
as a disability, but all that means is that she only have to take a slightly
different path than the others. In game and also in life.

After this, she became more cheerful. Rather than worrying about the things
that she couldn’t do anymore, shouldn’t she look forwards for the thing that
she still could do?

She could still sing, so she joined her high-school choir club who received
her warmly.

She couldn’t walk anymore, but she could still use her electric wheelchair and
ordered her driver to go anywhere she want, right? Her movement was indeed
limited, but it doesn’t mean that the whole world is closed for her.

It was a shame that she didn’t fully independent on bathing or changing
diapers (after all, she hardly could bend her back on her own to sit), but
advancement in prosthetics and neuroscience might change this one day. Until
then, she should prevent her muscle from atrophied and so she diligently
participate in the physiotherapy.

She could not do much in housework, but she learned and practiced sewing,
embroidery, and knitting. The looks of her father, mother, and brother when
they received her handmade sweater was as if it was the best gift they ever
received.

She wasn’t that depressed anymore. After all, she was only playing the
world in Hard difficulty, not at Impossible difficulty.

Her smile transformed from being a mere imitation into a true smile.

And at the end, of the day, there will be always her Wonderland, where she
casted away the deficient shell of her real life persona and turned into her ideal
self, where there were people who waited for her and look up on her; her other
self.

Even so, there is still an uncertainty inside her heart… The fear of being
unloved. Then, rather than waiting for love to approach her, shouldn’t she
pursue love herself? After all, isn’t the wise men say that chance and love
wait for no one.

Thus the fateful day on the Bridge arrived, adding yet another reason for
her to look for at her Wonderland. A fake fleeting virtual ‘love’……

ஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷஐƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒஐ

One day, June 3rd, she
awakened in a room that was unlike her room, sitting on a chair. The unknown room
was decorated by various oil portraits of people in medieval garbs. Then she
recognized that there were windows and text on her field of view that was
almost identical to RAHO. Strange… Her hand didn’t hold any controller
and she didn’t feel any headgear on her head. She could manipulate the menu
like normal, but the Log Out function is missing. She was panicked for a
moment, before she remembered there was an otome game with a similar premise
like her current situation. Perhaps she was transported to another world that
was similar to a game.

Now that she calmed down a bit. She looked at herself, she wore something
like long sleeved kimono. This must be her equipment. The silk kimono felt nice,
so no problem in this. Then She looked around the room, trying to connect the
dots about her current predicament. From the style of the carpets, tapestries,
and the paintings, she realized that she was in 『Royal Gallery』, a customized room inside Neuschwanensee Castle, her guilds. The paintings
were the head portraits of the whole former and current members of
Neuschwanensee and some other paintings that mimicked famous painting, all was drawn
by Mikaila, one of the oldest guild member. She drawn it using oil paints on
canvas in real life, scan it and then uploaded it to this room. Beside the
large sized painting of a Guild Master holding Neuschwanensee flag mimicking “Liberty
Leading the People” was the painting of she and Yusis stood together in their “wedding
garments” in a style mimicking “Arnolfini Portrait”, of course, without the
bulging belly, RAHO game avatars couldn’t have children after all.
This was Mikaila’s gift for their wedding back in the game. Seeing these
paintings, she didn’t have any doubt that she was really in a world similar to
a game.

Before this fact really registered into her brain, she noticed something
even bigger. She could feel EVERYTHING from her waist down. It was so alien since
she had forgotten what “waist”, “thigh”, “shin”, and “leg” feels like. She
could hardly move her feet, but when he finally made her feet made a step and she
felt the ground feel ran through her sole, it was as if the Three Gorges Dam
had been breached, bringing 42 billion tons of water rushing out and wipe out a
third of China from the map.

She was so excited, that she didn’t stop when a maid looking person called
out to her, when the Knights-looking people tried to stop her, she went from
one corridor to another, to the roof, to the bridge, to the gardens, where she
finally feel tired and lied down under a tree for a rest. She couldn’t stop
giggling, her spirits was so high it might have long surpassed the height of Mons
Olympus and entered the Low Orbit. Then she realized the situation she was in
and her mood underwent a reentry.

What had happened? What about her family? What should she do? What happen
to her now? Numerous questions were mobbing her mind. The feeling of unease,
fear and sad began to overwhelm her newfound happiness. Then she remembered
the paintings. Her eyes suddenly brightened. While half-praying, please,
please, let this be true, she opened the Friend window. Many names were colored
gray, but under the Guild Members name, his name was shown in white. He really is
here!

It was as if a thousand bells ringing, a thousand lamp shining, all of her
unease, fear and sadness were washed up and replaced by the feeling of hopes and
expectations. Even in this strange unknown Wonderland, she wasn’t alone. People
started to gather around her, but she didn’t care. There was something more
important she needs to do. Then she called out to him, his voice sounds calm,
reassuring and kind, just like what she had always thought. When he responded
to her jokes and said that he would came for her, her heart began to throb fast
from the excitement.

“How he looks like? What kind
of person will he be? Of course, he will be nice and kind, you silly. What will
he think when he sees me? I don’t wear a makeup! My hair is messy from the wind!
Am I look nice?”

Asking the nearby maids to groom her before sending them away, she lay in
waiting, while her head was in chaos as if she was going to meet her marriage
partner in an omiai. Perhaps this was what her friend means by the “First Date
Worries”?

Then, when a black-haired young man who looks not that much older than she
appeared, she recognized him immediately. After all, who else he could be?

He is not someone faraway behind the screen anymore, but he is right beside
her.

Perhaps… in this tangible and immanent Wonderland, the virtual can finally
became real?

If there is a group of people who can be said to have a truly blessed life,
then she is one of those people. She really does.

No way I disagree I love getting more insight into the other characters! I understand her a lot more than I did before, she came across as all clingy and a bit suffocating with her RP type character, now I know why shes like that. It also fleshes her out more in relation to Yusis and how she has come to be this way.

Im looking forward to the other characters history and what they have to reveal, cant wait :D

No wonder she run until she was exhausted in Chapter 1 part 4. At first I thought she was panicking. After reading "real life condition" in her profile and the event in Chapter 2 part 3, I thought she might be a lonely hospitalize girl in real life. I am happy my guess end up somewhat right. Her situation is both worst and better than my guess though.

Thank you for the update! I always found her a bit annoying, someone too RP orientated for her own good, with her clingy wifey behavior lol.

But now that some of her history was revealed, I can understand a little bit of why she acts this way, indulging in a world where she is free to be who she wants to be. I may not love her character, but I can look at her with fresh eyes that wont be so judgemental anymore :P I may even grow to like her :D I look forward as always to the next installment!

Okay, that's gay. Hahaha! Thanks for the chapter!! I love side stories like this as they give more background to the characters. Also, I love the way you connect the side story to the main story. Like why did she run until her stamina bar depletes?(Because she can feel parts of her body after a long time). Why is she so deeply obsesses with him?(Because he was the one who made her stand back up). So, please do more of this!! But becareful nor to get side track from the main story. Side stories that are useless (doesn't add anything to the main story) should only be done once a volume. 😊

It's nice knowing a bit more of Kiyomi. So this is Kiyomi background. I can understand why she would feel attached with the guild and everything, but she should realize that is romance is only her delusion and she is being forceful.

Yusis wasn't romantically interested in her. He wasn't even aware of her condition or really wanted to help her overcome her trauma personally. He just saw her as a new player he can partnered with. He should helps her because she is a rookie in the guild. Plus, she hasn't settle her build yet, so he can meld her into something that's useful to his build or the guild in general. He only saw her quirks as her roleplay habits.

He valued her as a player, that's all. They are not dating, not married, and Yusis has no obligation to her. (Nor any girl has to respect her roleplay) Other special attention or hint he gave her wasn't because Yusis interested in her, but it's because he is an archetype harem protag. Like Stella has said - he will get knifed one day.

Right now it seems like harmless roleplaying, but it may cause trouble in the future.

Like that last meeting, she may offended Mayana by being too damn aggressive in defending her 'husband'. Their position and power is vastly different and any offense won't cause them any problem. But someday, that tendency of her could cause a problem.

Dude, she know full well that this is her 'delusion' or 'fake virtual love'. Yusis is aware, his exact words were 'elaborate farce' or 'self-inflicted illusion'. At least that's what I get from that vague scene in one of the part. If Yusis saw this as a problem he would have stopped spoiling and playing along with her.

I think you are reading both characters somewhat wrong especially that 'meld her' part. Beside this is like 10+ days in.

Why would Mayana or any other local be offended? And I don't see any 'too damn aggressive' action too. It's not like they know this is role playing. It would just look a normal reaction of a 'wife' from their point of view.

He melded her character build. That happened back in the gaming days. Their history wasn't just 10-something days.

Yusis went along with this wife-husband thing because he is Yusis, a dense harem protag. (Yusis spoils every girl, no exception(so far)) He thought it was just all fun and game, simply roleplaying. Though, he did has some doubt if Kiyomi is serious or not.

Kiyomi is indeed aware that their romance was just her delusion, but the point was she is forcing that role on Yusis. She knows Yusis does not romantically interested in her (yet) nor has any commitment to her, but she still try to enforce their wife-husband relationship.

As for offending locals, it doesn't matter if she is a real wife or not or they aware of it or not, but sending a hand off warning on a girl who hasn't made a move on your 'husband' yet can really offend a girl in question. They were discussing business, not flirting. Keep the jealousy in check.

BTW, melding other character build to supplement your team is something very common in MMORPG. She was a rookie with no established build yet back then. Of course senior player like Yusis would suggested her a build that is useful for the guild, can combo with them, and match her style.

Talking about build, I found it odd that others thinks summoner is a trash-tier Job because they are frail and useless on their own. It's an MMO with a guild system. It's a team game. People splits into roles. At most it should be a 'too hard to play' job or 'too tedious' job. Not a trash job.

He didn't meld her, he advised her like a senior player. There is no positive for him in that nor he is trying to make her useful like you said.

From the in-story time, reality and game mixing is like 10+ days. I am only counting what happen after without the monitor screen separating them.

Kiyomi is a girl in love lost in her happiness but at the same time she intend to make it real. Yusis is a guy who is happy as long as she is happy. If there are any problem that come from this relationship it is more of Yusis fault for not stopping. Beside I doubt any problem would come from this unless Yusis fall in love with other girl.

Mayana is planning to so your point is moot. Girls can sense other girls who is planing to make a move on your beloved. They are scary like that.

Whatever, Your views have SB competence on it which is probably why it trigger me. Criticizing is fine, disliking characters is fine but I dislike 'how character should act' words.

I will not commenting about Kiyomi. I left the interpretation to the readers.

About summoner being a trash job: That's why a senior player like Yuuto know the value of a summoner. A summoner is highly dependable to other people. Although the summon is strong and very versatile, Summoner was relatively weak. Left alone, they would quickly die. Their stats growth are also crappy. So a Summoner are highly depending on their summons and other players, they would stay at the back while commanding their summons (imagine the first Digimon World [PSX] battle). They are really not a job for solo players.Just face it, how many players do you think want to play as a Summoner when highly independent and flashy DPS job like a Magician or Knight are around and you can even combine these job and behave as a Magic Swordsman?Why choose Summoner when there are other jobs that had smaller demerits while not detrimental to your independence?So for a casual players, Summoner is a Trash-tier job. Veteran players know better. A mature Summoner are a force to be reckoned with. After all, they brought friends into a fight.